


Taking Care of His Own

by Merfilly



Category: Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Community: tf_rare_pairing, Future Fic, M/M, Mirror Universe, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-19
Updated: 2012-08-30
Packaged: 2017-11-12 11:43:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/490523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soundwave is watching out for his friends as the war winds down</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Similar premise as the majority of my SG verses: more G1 based, diverging from the BotCon comic at various points, and very Decepticon centric. This does not fall in line with any previous series or work, though there is definitely room to continue.

The lab was meticulously clean, Soundwave noted as he entered it. He did not know exactly why he felt like this visit was necessary. The war was under control, mostly mopping up die-hards infected with Optimus Prime's madness, and Soundwave knew that none of the old command staff really needed to be heavily involved in that. It was mostly reports to file, and trying to find any mechs with admin capabilities to start getting the city-states back to full functionality now.

Still, a nagging sense of worry kept the communications specialist on the prowl lately, checking on various mechs still trying to reroute their circuits back to peaceful occupations. And, as that reminder crossed his processor, he knew just why he was in here.

Starscream had not reported to either the Terrorcons or Bombshell. Nearly every other member of the command staff and their direct subordinates had, to begin the restructure process. Even Megatron, with his call to duty while even one Autobot ran amuck, had been to a long session with Shrapnel and Hook, letting them look at all his modifications to plan how to temper what he had done to himself for more peaceful activities.

"Dude, where ya hangin'?" he called out, not seeing Starscream in the main room of the laboratory.

"Here, Soundwave." The voice emanated from one of the smaller, blast-shielded rooms, though the door was open. Curious, Soundwave made his way there, poking his head in cautiously. His optics fell on Starscream seated on a stool, wings tensed in with concentration on the schematics and the half-built apparatus taking up most of the counter.

"Building a new generator?" Soundwave idly asked, while he reached out to 'taste' the emotions and fields of his friend. What he found added to that pressure of worry that Starscream was going to be one of the more difficult cases to bring back to the peaceful life.

"Portable shielding, based on the information the Constructicons gleaned from Trailbreaker's systems. Only right that those... Autobots should benefit the world they destroyed in some fashion." Starscream's wingtips flicked in irritation at the name of their nearly vanquished enemy.

"Mech, have you been in here since they did that teardown?" Soundwave asked with a neutral tone.

"It is needed, if we are to reclaim the resources in the rad zones!" Starscream snapped, then he raised a hand to cover his faceplates, realizing his rudeness. "Forgive me, Soundwave; I am unsettled of late." His voice was modulated, careful of the annoying rasp in it, as he normally was when he could be calm.

Soundwave shook his helm, silently sending out a command to all of his symbionts that they needed to make themselves scarce from their quarters for a while. He was not going to leave Starscream wound this tight, and he happened to know the mech had a weakness for the distillate out of Hexical.

"Dude, no problemo. But I have to say it's not like you to take this much time on a project when you have the blueprints." He had approached as he spoke, rounding the counter so that his hand was resting lightly on a wing when Starscream tensed at that seeming criticism. "I'm betting you need a break to clear your processor."

"Sound~wave..." was the immediate protest, but Soundwave was moving his digits along the pressure sensor in the edge of that wing, and 'pushing' gently along the basic processor bands to encourage cooperation.

"We don't have mechpower for clean-up yet, Star. So let it be, come on back to my place, and try a bit of the distillate Ravage found in Hexical." Soundwave's voice lifted up on a half-teasing note, as Starscream actually pushed into that touch.

Their resident energy-genius (because Megatron was the resident super-genius) let so few mechs touch him that Soundwave knew there was a deep-seated problem if the Seeker was starving for such a simple touch. Where had his trine-mates been? An access of flight information told him the pair were flying long-distance surveys, because of Skywarp's unique abilities.

"I really do have so many projects now that Megatron has removed me from military duties," Starscream said, at once wistful and chagrined.

That pinged an alarm in Soundwave's sensory feed coming off of Starscream. Had the mech taken that poorly?

"You think the big cheese should have left you on?" Soundwave asked as casually as he could.

Starscream's immediate temperature spike and tension through his support struts answered that. He did not want to criticize their leader, but he obviously wanted to help finish this war personally. "My skills _do_ lie in more scientific pursuits," he said weakly.

::BossBot? We got trouble in a major way with teacher's pet,:: Soundwave sent swiftly, knowing Megatron would have more insight into the enigma that was Starscream. ::Frontline syndrome?::

There was a minimal delay as Megatron processed the quick dump of sensor info and Soundwave's unique impressions. ::I removed him on the recommendation of his trine mates, Bombshell, and Shrapnel. They feel he is at risk of becoming obsessed and incapable of moving on if left in the final campaigns. It was hoped that this would remind him of his primary focus.::

::Dude. So not schway with that. Got a hunch Star feels backed into a corner.::

The delay this time was longer, and Soundwave was positive his longtime friend was probably slapping palm to face in realization.

::I can't break away right now.::

::Kahuna, I've got the mech right now. Come on by when you can.:: Soundwave let a bit of amusement pass through. ::But not too soon. Let me unspool him a bit.::

::I leave him in your hands.::

During the brief exchange, Soundwave had not stopped petting the wing, even if Starscream was trying to study the schematics while being distracted. His muttering of 'connect this to that diode' told Soundwave that they needed to get out of this lab and fast, if he was going to salvage Star's tenuous grip on sanity and functionality.

"Mech, we are evacing this locale for chill settings, got it?"

Starscream started to protest again, but the promise of his favorite distillate and Soundwave's touches were _so_ tempting. "I can come back to this; you are correct."

"Always!"

`~`~`~`~`


	2. Paradigm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soundwave's plan glitched.

Soundwave, careful with the balance of power at a level few mechs could be, wasn't certain what to do when Starscream got hyper-charged after just two slips of the distillate. He walked such a delicate line with his symbionts, knowing they were dependent on him for life, yet wishing them to be as free as they could be that he would never, ever take advantage of someone not in their full mental capacity.

Starscream, having been lured back to his quarters on the promise of that distillate and well-placed caresses, was not truly wanting to be rebuffed in his own dextrous explorations of Soundwave's chassis.

"Star... not trying to tease your diodes or anything, but you're not you right now," Soundwave murmured after gently pulling the scientist's hand away from the oh-so-sensitive edge of his docking chamber.

The pout on those mobile faceplates almost did in the resolve Soundwave had pulled together to help his friend loosen up but not take advantage of him. "But...." The pout was giving way to frustrated anger, causing Soundwave to hastily reach up and caress along an audial.

"Cool your jets a bit, Star. Didn't expect you to light up on two slips like that." Starscream's insistent press into Soundwave's touch was endearing, and showed the communicator the best way to handle his ethical dilemma. "You don't have to go back fast, so... recharge with me?"

That offer almost discharged his friend completely. Starscream notoriously did not conform to mob-rule cuddle piles like most of his class. He had his own quarters, rarely stayed with his trine mates, and only seldom shared anyone's berth for more than interfacing (and that was rare enough).

"You don't have to offer that," Starscream said, nervously despite his state. "I know I'm plain compared to most of my kind...." HIs voice trailed off at the patent disbelief in all of Soundwave's energies, looking at the mech with a hint of shame.

"Star, it's not about not wanting you." Soundwave let his hand fall to the shoulder of his friend. "It's about not banging up our friendship because you're overworked and a bit charged."

"Oh." Starscream shook his helm. "Still."

Soundwave cocked his head. "Is it … the past? Your recharges trip-wired with processor glitches?"

Starscream could only send a pulse of affirmation, unable to vocalize his fears of that, of dragging a companion into it.

"I dig it." Soundwave stood up, then reached down to help Starscream off the bench they'd been sharing. 

"I did enjoy the drinks," Starscream said, wings tensing and his energies closing off.

"Mech, you still gonna turn me down?" Soundwave asked gently, to show he had not changed his mind at all.

"But..."

"Dude, I have four symbionts. They've had some crazy things happen. Including almost dying by smelting pit," Soundwave said softly, ember pulsing hard in memory at that terror shared with his symbiont. "I feel their glitches. I try to smooth them, but mostly I surf them out, and make sure they all know they're safe." He paused, then squeezed the hand he had kept holding. "What's a friend for, if not for support? Lean on me, mech."

Starscream wanted to say 'no' out of self-defense, out of a need to protect others from what he was inside his ember. Soundwave could feel all of that, and he just carefully let go of the hand, turning his frame in a way that was neither threatening nor imposing should Starscream choose to leave.

"Stay, cuddle up, let me be there... and maybe when the recharge is over, everything will be a little better?"

"Does anyone ever tell you 'no'?" Starscream asked, a nervous laugh behind his words when Soundwave just let his delight pour out in his fields.

"Big Kahuna does, sometimes. But he's got reasons to have a titanium strut up the wazoo."

Starscream's optics flickered, then he smiled. "Your idioms..." He moved decisively closer to Soundwave, who obliged by leading to the recharge room.

"Keeps the audience entertained, as Sinnertwin would say," Soundwave answered that breezily, flopping across the berth and letting his friend choose where... and how... to lie down. Those wings were more of a hassle for the fliers than Soundwave ever wanted to cope with directly.

Starscream started on his front plates, but as soon as Soundwave moved to get situated, shifted to half lay along Soundwave's side, helm on a shoulder. "Is this..."

"Just fine, mech." Soundwave flicked his fields into a pattern of lulling, hypnotic touches along Starscream's sensors. "Just let go, and know I'm right here to help you ride the big waves."

"I can do this," Starscream murmured softly, already shutting systems down.

"Yeah, you can."

`~`~`~`~`


	3. Dreamstorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soundwave comes out of recharge to a disturbance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see dreaming as the brain's way of processing data, both the kind received consciously and unconsciously. For a robotic species, if this is taken to extreme, it would create a Matrix-like environment that could get tricky to deal with.

Soundwave roused from deep recharge to the sensation of energies spiraling and spiking in ways that were very unforgiving against his mostly defenseless sensors and plating. Optics came online, audials tuned in, and he let his processor's unique abilities roam out. All three sources told him the same thing.

Starscream was having a processor glitch. While Soundwave couldn't tell immediately if it was centered on Prime, Crystal City, or the distant past, it was obvious that the glitch was wreaking havoc on all of the scientist's systems, keeping them at revved-up pitches completely at odds with the fact he was supposed to be in recharge.

"How is that even happening," Soundwave muttered, while analyzing the mech who had every sign of traumatic distress showing. He could not risk touching Starscream, but maybe...

Centering himself, Soundwave found his zen and reached inward first. He blotted out all external distractions, from the romp/play/explore of his symbionts in various parts of Polyhex, to the bombardment of Starscream's own energies. Once he had complete peace in his processor and ember he reached out, snaking tendrils of his ability out and into the fragged memories gripping his friend.

The coils of madness were all around him as he focused enough to project himself into the crashing bits of memory and theories and emotions that coursed through Starscream's processor. For all the effort given to his healing by Bombshell and others, it was quite evident that none of the therapists had ever broken through the basic fortress of guilt that kept the past all too present.

No one had the ability he did, not even Bombshell, with his direct connection implants. No one could ever touch Starscream's processor like this, take it all apart and put it back together so that Star was free of the pain, the memories, the self-loathing.

Soundwave, however, was not going to do such. His abilities had let him in here, let him see the abyss his friend teetered on, but he would not use his power to emotionally rape the other mech. No matter the intentions, that was all it could ever be if Soundwave just 'fixed' it all.

::Star, I'm here! I'm waiting, just waiting, so you can hold on to me!::

The whirlwind of data and memories intensified, rejecting that anchoring offer for a moment. That the streams parted, revealing Star's avatar said more for the trust between them than anything else ever could.

::Soundwave?::

With the projection of his friend close, the communicator moved, catching hold of the image, code-locking a seal between them, so that Soundwave could better guard his friend.

::You have the key to unlock that, Starscream. It's the date you bonded to TC and Sky, m'kay? Just plug it in, and you don't have me hanging on. But if you leave it... no more jousting cyberdragons alone, no matter where you are.::

::Why?:: A wall of self-hatred, of knowing that he was only a cause of misery and suffering rose, threatening to cut them apart in the wastes of Starscream's processor.

::Because you're my friend, and friends hang on to the important mechs in their lives.:: Soundwave gave a small mental tug. ::Come on over out of this storm?::

Starscream hesitated, but Soundwave's invitation was accompanied by a promise of peace. Soundwave felt certain shields drop, and he took that as consent, converting his friend's projection into the right data stream and carrying the majority of Starscream's id into the peaceful confines of Soundwave's own processor.

::So... still.::

The wonder in those two small words left Soundwave humming happily. ::Dude, I should have taught you this a few vorns ago. And I will, once your frame settles down.::

He let Starscream 'see' through his own perceptions just how the glitches had wreaked havoc on Starscream's energies and frame. The scientist frowned, pondering the situation.

::That is why I never feel recharged unless I … :: His projection's faceplates heated, and Soundwave could guess the rest from the only jet-former to ever show restraint during a party hosted by Dirge.

::'Facing's great for defrag and completely offlining the top part of processing,:: Soundwave agreed. ::But no one ought to be at that storm's mercy. Or have to 'face just to recharge.::

::You can teach me how to be quiet like this?::

::I will. And then we'll tackle why the storm exists, but only when you're ready, Star.::

The seal between them was reinforced from Starscream's side, the key offered freely to Soundwave in math that was not exotically cryptic.

::I want to be better.::

::We'll get there.::


	4. Completed Circuits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soundwave wakes, and learns more of his companion's needs and wants.

A light recharge with the bulk of two consciousnesses housed in Soundwave's processor had done much to cause Starscream's frame and processor to find an armistice. As Soundwave became aware of it, he gently guided his friend back 'home', and let their mingled awarenesses separate to finish the recharge cycle.

Soundwave's next full input was one of lazy, sensuous pleasure because something was tracing the docking port of his chest slow and carefully. His recharge partner was the first thing he saw as his optics cycled up, and the look on Starscream's face was instantly committed to permanent files. It was one of hesitating curiosity, a strangely innocent exploration in the fields touching along Soundwave's.

"Is this allowed? I am not overcharged now, and I still wish to... to... show you some of the goodness you have given to me."

That pinged wrong against Soundwave's ethics, and he forced himself up, catching Starscream's hands, despite how exquisite that touch had been. "Dude, you totally don't have to snuggle-cuddle because I was nice to you."

Starscream's faceplates shifted, showing consternation. "I wish to touch you," he said softly. "It..." his voice broke off as he struggled to find words, and Soundwave had a firm impression that Starscream knew he was a broken mech in ways that weren't healthy, but that Starscream had devised logics around those gaps in his processor and circuitry. "Of all the things that have happened, Soundwave, I do not wish to lose the ability to touch, even if it is one of the things that was violated in my past. I trust you. If you do not want my touch, that is one thing, but if you only stop me because I am... damaged... it is not necessary."

Soundwave made a noise in his vocalizer of all the ways that the small speech didn't set well with him, but he relented and let Starscream's hands go. "You want to reclaim this for yourself? Is that it?"

Starscream nodded as he brought himself up to a sitting position too, optics dimming. "It took me a long time after I came here to see it was not right to offer it as payment for every kindness." His fingers played over the mount where Soundwave's weapon normally rested for battle, teasing the edges of the connector ports. "It took longer to understand that I could still desire physical company, and that it did not make me out as everything Prime ever called me." His other hand came back to splay over the docking compartment. "But... it is hard to trust, when your firewalls have been taken away, when you've lived with even your most basic shields stripped off of you. And it is still hard to ask others for their time, when I know I am not that important."

"Star, you are!" Soundwave interrupted, but the hand on his weapon moved, a single digit caressing the edge of where Soundwave's battlemask retracted away from his features.

"Soundwave... I would very much enjoy helping us both find a mutual overload, as part of gratitude for your friendship, and because I do desire it. I will not impose upon you, if it is not your wish. All you have to do is choose, and I will obey your desires in the matter."

Soundwave used his abilities to test that, and all he could read from Starscream seemed to indicate a rational and well-considered decision with no dubious issues lurking in the mech's processor. He knew he could probably count those few Starscream trusted this far on one hand's digits, because the scientist was nowhere near as sensualist and promiscuous as most of his class.

"Star, you're bodacious." Soundwave let his outer data ports open, showing his willingness to continue. The way Starscream immediately began caressing the rims of each one sent anymore thoughts on consent and damage far away, as the pair explored this new aspect of their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had intended to be more explicit but... they disagreed. So another FTB from me, I'm afraid.


End file.
